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About Fund
The Government of Croatia, represented by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, has designed the Unity through Knowledge Fund program (UKF), supported by the World Bank Loan Nr. 7320-HR.
This program is aimed at: (i) encouraging Croatian scientists and professionals working abroad (Diaspora) to return and work in Croatia and/or get connected with the local scientists; (ii) fostering Croatian institutions and researchers to use potentials of Croatian scientific and professional Diaspora. These processes will get integrated into the task of national reconstruction and economic development.
Under the motto Connectivity – Cooperability – Creativity, UKF’s mission is to unify the scientific and professional potentials in Croatia and Diaspora for the development of the society based on knowledge.
In order to achieve this task, UKF strives towards the following goals:
fostering internationally competitive research, fostering research that provides added values to the Croatian economy and supporting the projects which develop research infrastructure.
The projects financed by UKF should exhibit excellence and a significant contribution to Croatian society and economy. They will be chosen on the competitive basis through a fair evaluation process. The process will be governed by a Steering Committee nominated by the Minister and with operational support of a two-member UKF Secretariat. The projects will be elected on the subject of recommendations of anonymous evaluators. Final decisions will be made by the Approval Committee with the Minister as its head.
The projects within UKF will be financed in the frame of specially designed programs. The programs encompass the following areas: collaborative research projects, intensifying of researchers’ mobility, young researchers’ advancement and commercialization program. The programs will be defined, specified in detail and implemented by the Steering Committee.
Within approved projects, special instruments will be financed that lead to achievement of UKF’s goal. These instruments are: research project, post-doctorate research, early-stage research, short-term visit, long-term visit, research equipment, conference, hi-tech entrepreneurship and consulting. The maximum UKF’s contribution to a project is 90 percent, and minimum 10 percent should be provided from other sources.
Performance of the UKF will be monitored through several key performance indicators. Increased collaboration between Croatian research community and industry with Diaspora is measured as number of projects successfully finished. Overall outcome of basic research activity supported is reflected as number of joint publications stemming from projects. Overall outcome of applied research activity supported is reflected as number of submitted applications for patents plus number of other applicable new products/processes developed.
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